🐍

Intermediate⏱️ about 30 minutes👣 6 steps

Python Adventure

Create a text-based adventure game where the player explores, collects items and makes choices to find the treasure.

Functions
Lists
while loops
if / elif / else
return values

🎯 What we're going to build

Long before games had fancy graphics, people played text adventures. The computer describes where you are, you type what you want to do, and the story changes depending on your choices. In this project you will write your own adventure where a hero explores a forest, a river and a mysterious cave, searching for the legendary Python Gem.

Each place in the game will be its own function. When the player finishes in one place, the function returns the name of the next place to go. A loop at the bottom of the program keeps calling the right function until the adventure is over. This is a powerful pattern that real game programmers use!

You will also give the hero an inventory, which is a list of items they are carrying. Finding a key at the river changes what happens in the cave. That means the player has to explore and think, which makes the game much more fun than just picking a path.

💡 How to use this guide: work through the steps in order and run your code after each one. Steps marked snippet are pieces that slot into the program you are building, so they won't run on their own. Programs that use input() need a Python editor such as IDLE, Thonny or Replit, where you can type your answers.

👣 Step by step

Welcome the hero

Every adventure needs a hero! We ask the player to name their character and store it in a variable called hero. We will use that name again at the end of the game.

🐍 Python

print("🐍 Welcome to Python Adventure!")
hero = input("What is your hero's name? ")
print("Good luck, " + hero + "! Find the treasure hidden in the forest.")

▶ Output

🐍 Welcome to Python Adventure!
What is your hero's name? Zara
Good luck, Zara! Find the treasure hidden in the forest.

Build the first place as a function

The forest is a function that describes the scene and asks which way to go. Instead of printing where to go next, it returns the name of the next place. If the player types something unexpected, we return "forest" so they get another chance.

🐍 Python

def forest():
    print()
    print("🌲 You are in a dark, whispering forest.")
    print("A path goes left to a river. Another goes right to a cave.")
    choice = input("Which way? (left/right) ").lower()
    if choice == "left":
        return "river"
    elif choice == "right":
        return "cave"
    else:
        print("You spin in a circle. Let's try that again!")
        return "forest"

next_place = forest()
print("Next you go to the", next_place)

▶ Output


🌲 You are in a dark, whispering forest.
A path goes left to a river. Another goes right to a cave.
Which way? (left/right) left
Next you go to the river

Collect items in an inventory

The inventory is a list that starts empty. At the river, the player can pick up a golden key, and .append() adds it to the list. We check if "key" in inventory first so the player can't collect the same key twice.

🐍 Python

inventory = []

def river():
    print()
    print("🌊 You reach a sparkling river.")
    if "key" in inventory:
        print("The water is calm. There is nothing else here.")
    else:
        print("Something shiny is glinting in the water!")
        choice = input("Do you pick it up? (yes/no) ").lower()
        if choice == "yes":
            print("You found a golden key! 🔑")
            inventory.append("key")
        else:
            print("You leave it where it is.")
    print("You walk back to the forest.")
    return "forest"

river()
print("Inventory:", inventory)

▶ Output


🌊 You reach a sparkling river.
Something shiny is glinting in the water!
Do you pick it up? (yes/no) yes
You found a golden key! 🔑
You walk back to the forest.
Inventory: ['key']

Use the item to win

In the cave there is a locked chest. If the key is in the inventory, the chest opens and the function returns "end" to finish the game. If not, the player is sent back to the forest to keep exploring.

🐍 Python

inventory = ["key"]

def cave():
    print()
    print("🦇 You enter a cave. A huge locked chest sits in the middle.")
    if "key" in inventory:
        print("You use the golden key... the chest creaks open!")
        print("💎 Inside is the legendary Python Gem. You win!")
        return "end"
    else:
        print("The chest is locked. Maybe something nearby can open it?")
        return "forest"

print(cave())

▶ Output


🦇 You enter a cave. A huge locked chest sits in the middle.
You use the golden key... the chest creaks open!
💎 Inside is the legendary Python Gem. You win!
end

5
Connect the places with a game loop
The variable place remembers where the hero is right now. The while loop keeps running until place becomes "end". Each time round, we call the function for the current place and store the place it returns, which moves the hero around the map.
🧩 Snippet: add to your program
```
place = "forest"

while place != "end":
    if place == "forest":
        place = forest()
    elif place == "river":
        place = river()
    elif place == "cave":
        place = cave()
```
6
Count the moves and celebrate
Let's add a moves counter that goes up by 1 every time the loop runs. When the hero wins, we print a victory message with their name and the number of moves. Can you find the treasure in fewer moves next time?
🧩 Snippet: add to your program
```
moves = 0

# ...inside the while loop:
moves = moves + 1

# ...after the loop:
print("🏆 Well done, " + hero + "! You finished in", moves, "moves.")
```

✅ The finished program

Here is the whole program with every step put together. If something isn't working in your version, compare it with this one line by line. Check the spelling, the colons at the end of if and while lines, and that the indentation (the spaces at the start of lines) matches.

🐍 Python Adventure

inventory = []

def forest():
    print()
    print("🌲 You are in a dark, whispering forest.")
    print("A path goes left to a river. Another goes right to a cave.")
    choice = input("Which way? (left/right) ").lower()
    if choice == "left":
        return "river"
    elif choice == "right":
        return "cave"
    else:
        print("You spin in a circle. Let's try that again!")
        return "forest"

def river():
    print()
    print("🌊 You reach a sparkling river.")
    if "key" in inventory:
        print("The water is calm. There is nothing else here.")
    else:
        print("Something shiny is glinting in the water!")
        choice = input("Do you pick it up? (yes/no) ").lower()
        if choice == "yes":
            print("You found a golden key! 🔑")
            inventory.append("key")
        else:
            print("You leave it where it is.")
    print("You walk back to the forest.")
    return "forest"

def cave():
    print()
    print("🦇 You enter a cave. A huge locked chest sits in the middle.")
    if "key" in inventory:
        print("You use the golden key... the chest creaks open!")
        print("💎 Inside is the legendary Python Gem. You win!")
        return "end"
    else:
        print("The chest is locked. Maybe something nearby can open it?")
        return "forest"

print("🐍 Welcome to Python Adventure!")
hero = input("What is your hero's name? ")
print("Good luck, " + hero + "! Find the treasure hidden in the forest.")

place = "forest"
moves = 0

while place != "end":
    moves = moves + 1
    if place == "forest":
        place = forest()
    elif place == "river":
        place = river()
    elif place == "cave":
        place = cave()

print()
print("🏆 Well done, " + hero + "! You finished in", moves, "moves.")

🖥️ Sample run

This is what it looks like when someone plays. The words after each question are what the player typed.

▶ Output

🐍 Welcome to Python Adventure!
What is your hero's name? Zara
Good luck, Zara! Find the treasure hidden in the forest.

🌲 You are in a dark, whispering forest.
A path goes left to a river. Another goes right to a cave.
Which way? (left/right) right

🦇 You enter a cave. A huge locked chest sits in the middle.
The chest is locked. Maybe something nearby can open it?

🌲 You are in a dark, whispering forest.
A path goes left to a river. Another goes right to a cave.
Which way? (left/right) left

🌊 You reach a sparkling river.
Something shiny is glinting in the water!
Do you pick it up? (yes/no) yes
You found a golden key! 🔑
You walk back to the forest.

🌲 You are in a dark, whispering forest.
A path goes left to a river. Another goes right to a cave.
Which way? (left/right) right

🦇 You enter a cave. A huge locked chest sits in the middle.
You use the golden key... the chest creaks open!
💎 Inside is the legendary Python Gem. You win!

🏆 Well done, Zara! You finished in 6 moves.

🚀 Make it your own

Finished? Brilliant! Real programmers are always improving their programs. Try one of these challenges to make the project truly yours.

⭐Add a new place, like a mountain or a castle, with its own function and its own choices.
⭐Put a sleeping dragon in the cave that only lets you pass if you are carrying a "cookie" from somewhere else.
⭐Give the hero 3 lives. Wrong choices cost a life, and the game ends if lives reaches 0.
⭐Print the inventory every time the hero arrives back in the forest.

📚 Lessons that help

Stuck on a step? These lessons explain the Python ideas used in this project.

⚙️Functions 📋Lists 🔁Loops 🤔If / Else ⌨️User Input

← Back to all projects

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Python Adventure

🎯 What we're going to build

👣 Step by step

Welcome the hero

Build the first place as a function

Collect items in an inventory

Use the item to win

Connect the places with a game loop

Count the moves and celebrate

✅ The finished program

🖥️ Sample run

🚀 Make it your own

📚 Lessons that help

Python Adventure

🎯 What we're going to build

👣 Step by step

Welcome the hero

Build the first place as a function

Collect items in an inventory

Use the item to win

Connect the places with a game loop

Count the moves and celebrate

✅ The finished program

🖥️ Sample run

🚀 Make it your own

📚 Lessons that help